to eat, waiting for you--Ah! that tastes good. Sunday's
beautiful, but a workday's much finer. I wouldn't care to be one of
your quality, who have Sunday all the year round. If I only had lots of
fields and meadows and forests, so that I could always work on my own
land."

"We'll have them, God willing," answered Walpurga.

They were a happy party at breakfast, and the child was full of life.
They had been sitting together for a little while, when the innkeeper's
servant entered and brought Hansei his beer-mug with his name engraved
on the pewter lid, and signified that the innkeeper desired no further
visits on his part.

Hansei sent word to the host that he had better return the two hundred
florins that he still owed him. He did not like to send such a message
by the servant, but he felt that he ought to give him tit for tat.

"And tell him, besides," he called out to the servant, "he's often been
warned that he might get hold of the wrong fellow. Just tell him that
I'm the wrong fellow."

Hansei could not help feeling sad while he looked at the empty
beer-mug. Who knew how long it would remain empty. Perhaps forever. And
it's no trifling matter to be excluded from the village inn. It's
almost as hard as to live in a small capital where the prince gives
entertainments, and to be unable to take part in them because you are
not admitted at court. "There's a new tap," they'd say; "there's a new
wine purchase; there are entertaining strangers there--" He was now
excluded from the best thing there was in the village. When he looked
at his tankard it was with sad thoughts, and with a prophetic sense of
the thirst which in future he would be unable to quench.

Before long, woodcutters, on their way to the forest, stopped to see
Hansei and tell him of all that had been said of him and his wife on
the previous day. They roundly abused those who, in order to please the
innkeeper, had spoken ill of an honest man, one against whom nothing
could be said.

"There's no harm done," replied Hansei; "on the contrary, it makes one
wiser to see how people will talk when their tongues are loosened."

"And your comrades, the huntsmen, said they had only let you go with
them in order to have fun at your expense."

"That doesn't matter. I'll soon show them that I've learnt wisdom from
them."

"Wasn't there one who spoke well of us?" inquired Walpurga.

"Yes, yes," replied Wastl the weaver, who felt kindly inclined toward
Hanse